In the report, the BRC said that it supports stretching packaging recycling targets, as these support the development and investment in improvements to UK recycling infrastructure.

It also said: “Steadily increasing targets over time provides long-term certainty to business, facilitating investment”.

In December 2011, Defra announced proposals for tougher packaging recycling targets from 2013-2017 in a bid to stop recyclable materials going to landfill. The proposals will see the target recycling rate for plastics almost double by 2017.

Defra’s consultation closes on Friday 10 February 2012.

‘High quality packaging’

Speaking to PN, BRC head of environment Bob Gordon said: “We want to see greater recycling as a sector and we have done a lot of work to lightweight packaging and a lot of work has been done to increase the recycling of packaging.